Private unis do not have education faculty and to be an English Teacher in Turkey one has to finish an education faculty.....there is no private uni graduated Turkish English teacher...
Bilkent is one of the best in ELT in Turkey but the other departments were really horrible when first opened....whynotme thought of teaching there 7 years ago but changed his mind because of the bad reputation of the school....i think most of you heard about the school from the natives working there...just ask the Turkish teachers in ELT and other academicians.

Yes, what happened to tucker? I must admit, I was not too upset when I got the news that I was rejected - it seemed that the fates were working in my favor that day! I am curious though, as to what I will be missing...

Yes, what happened to tucker? I must admit, I was not too upset when I got the news that I was rejected - it seemed that the fates were working in my favor that day! I am curious though, as to what I will be missing...

I didn't have the best feeling during/after the interview to be honest... I think that my only having 2 years of experience in TEFL was a major factor - it was pointed out to me a few times during the interview. From everything I have heard from others in the hazirlik, I would not have been happy there anyway. As far as the rest of the university and school is concerned, I have heard very balanced and positive reviews. No worries, there are many fish in the sea of TEFL!

I think your experiences of the hazirlik program can not be used to judge the entire university.

True. Hazirlik programmes by their very nature are not representative of a university as a whole. They are very profitable for a private university and tend to weed out students. But Bilkent operate hazirlik as a ruthless business and cynically allow students who clearly cannnot cope to enroll in it and in diploma programmes in order to milk them.

By the way, there are no Turkish universities on the top 500 survey. Does this mean ODTU, Bogazici, Hacettepe, etc. are crap universitites?

Interesting point and difficult to answer briefly but I will try.

Firstly I never said Bilkent was crap. The MA TEFL programme is highly regarded in Turkey and gives a select few from not only Turkey but countries such as Azerbaycan a chance to take a paid year off and mix with the kind of people who will be the future in EFL in Turkey and other countries. It really is a unique programme.

No Turkish university nor any Arab university made the top 500. But 3 Israeli universities did. Part of the problem of Turkish universties is that they are crippled by a lack of money. They do little in the way of research and cannot afford to subscribe to journals let alone publish and attend international conferences. True some unis like Bosphorous have a fund that teachers can apply to if they want to attend conferences but it is limited. Add to that air fares, visas etc. it is difficult.

Sadly the very way a top uni is graded excludes unis in poorer countries.

I know dozens of Bilkent graduates who have gone on to do their PHDs in America,

Not surprising since Bilkent has been on the go for quite some time and has graduated a lot of scholarship students who are the best of the best in Turkey. Other fee paying graduates can of course afford to pay for a PHD anywhere in the world. I am not knocking the cream of the cream at Bilkent or anywhere else.

and then have become professors in the United States.
I am sure they have done well. But the majoriy of Bilkent students are rich kids who are buying a piece of paper while enjoying life in a rich bubble.

This is interesting. So it sounds like there isn't any money available for teachers to present/research/attend international conferences.